Golf is largely an individual sport, and the same has traditionally been true of golf coaching. For 2025 PGA of America Teacher & Coach of the Year Jason Baile, however, a team approach brings better results for his students by weaving golf instruction with subject matter expert contributions in adjacent disciplines.
Baile, who works with a number of tour players as well as recreational golfers at his home base of Jupiter Hills Club in Tequesta, Florida, is seldom alone on the lesson tee. Or the gym. Or the clubfitting bay.
“The experience and the results get better when we realize that these are not whole separate things, but all a part of improving golf performance,” Baile says. “I want to work with the best experts in different areas of performance, but I want them all involved together. I don’t just want a fitness expert in the fitness area, I want them to be a part of golf lessons – and I want to be a part of their sessions in the gym. We’re all performance-oriented and trying to enhance the coaching experience for the golfer by working together.
“It’s the mesh points between these disciplines that lead to improvement, and it’s all about treating our members to the same experience that any tour player would create as they try to improve.”
Baile’s experiences working with tour players like U.S. Open winner Lucas Glover, Peter Uihlein, Bud Cauley and others have shown him the number of experts in different areas top players utilize to make gains on the course. Players may employ a swing coach, a short game coach, a mental coach, a fitness trainer, a chef or nutritionist, and possibly a statistician – not to mention the club- and ball-fitting support they receive from equipment manufacturers.
Club golfers aren’t likely to seek out the same level of specialization in their quest for game improvement. That’s where Baile says PGA of America Golf Professionals can either provide or help find the experts they need to progress along their own golf journeys. Jupiter Hill Club’s Performance Center includes a team of PGA of America Golf Coaches to provide tee to green swing instruction and course management, fitness experts like PGA of America Golf Professional Chase Garris, and clubfitters to make sure members are playing the best equipment for their game. If a member needs help with anything beyond those disciplines, Baile and his team will find the right person to help.
Meanwhile, the various experts and coaches at Jupiter Hills Club join Baile in coaching events throughout the Performance Center, and vice versa. He may be called into the fitting bay to help a member find a driver, or a fitness trainer may be part of a dynamic warmup session before a speed training session on the range.
“It’s all about finding these mesh points where players can improve without it seeming so daunting,” Baile says. “It’s all under the umbrella of golf performance.
“Mr. Jones may not want to go to the gym and work out on his own accord. But if Chase is part of my lesson with Mr. Jones and explains how he can add some internal hip rotation and gain some speed with some exercises in the gym, all of a sudden that’s not working out – Mr. Jones thinks, ‘I’m improving my golf game, because I’m going to go back to Jason and it going to be easier for me to do what he’s teaching me to do during the golf swing to play better.’
“It’s transformational for golfers and it builds so much excitement and activity at the club.”
The concept of mesh points between coaching and other areas can expand to a number of areas that enhance the golf experience for players. For example, coaches can travel with players on trips that combine instruction and exploring new countries and courses – a time-honored way of strengthening the bonds between PGA of America Golf Professionals and their players.
Golf instruction can also be used as a mesh point between learning the game and finding like-minded players with whom they can tee it up. Group instruction is a great way to provide coaching while serving as something of a matchmaker so players can head out on the course together in the future.
Even something like statistical analysis can serve as a mesh point for helping players improve through golf coaching. Baile is bringing the SwingU suite of analysis software into the Jupiter Hills Performance Center so coaches can help players practice more efficiently and effectively.
“Tour players have been tracking their stats and using that to guide their practice and coaching for years, and now we can bring that to our club golfers in the same way,” Baile says. “If someone is a 10-handicap but the stats show they drive the ball like a 5-handicap, then we know we need to focus on other parts of the game to unlock the next level of their performance instead of spending a lot of time on something they’re already proficient in.”
Baile says the concept of mesh points – and tracking performance data – also works for PGA Coaches who want to improve their skills.
“I won my first award in 2016 in the Lowcountry Chapter of the Carolinas PGA Section, and that gave me a push to start working on my brand and defining myself more as a golf coach,” Baile says. “I was working with a member who was a successful businessman, and he congratulated me and told me I should work on my brand, and I didn’t really know what that meant – I thought a brand was a flashy logo or slogan.
“He said, ‘A brand is a promise that what you do works.’ That hit me hard, and it was really a turning point that gave me a chance to sit back and define what I did, and why it worked.”
Baile combed through the performance of his students, from tour players to beginning golfers, and found a common thread: He helped golfers get the best results by adapting his teaching to their learning styles and abilities, rather than attempting a one-size-fits-all approach.
“I’ve worked with and watched so many great coaches, and I can look at the player in front of me and twist different ideas and approaches into something that resonates with them by incorporating different styles and disciplines. It works on tour and with 10-handicappers, and it’s stood the test of time across demographics,” Baile says.
He advises PGA of America Coaches at all stages of their careers to spend time shadowing other coaches and experts in related areas to build their knowledge and understand the mesh points between different areas of golf performance.
To that end, Baile has developed “Jupiter Hills University,” where assistant golf professionals from clubs around the country can spend time working on the outside staff at the club, while also being involved in shadowing Baile and other staff members in the Performance Center.
“They’re going to participate in clinics and get better at speaking in front of members and their peers,” Baile says. “This helps us draw really good staff during our peak season, and we promise that we’re going to help educate the ones who want to go forward in the coaching world. They’re going to clean a bunch of golf cars, sure, but they’re also going to be able to put a lot of great bullet points on their resumes, like working with someone like Brad Faxon on running a clinic. That’s a big part of my job as a mentor.
“The good news is that most of these young PGA of America Coaches are way farther along than I was at a similar point in my career.”
